Jan 23, 2012

Oven roasted chicken legs take on exotic Asian flavors by the addition of a little Chinese five-spice.

An easy weeknight dish, the chicken is marinated in soy sauce, ginger, shallots, garlic and Chinese five-spice then roasted in the oven. Serve this with jasmine rice or brown fried rice and a vegetable for a complete meal.

I chose to use whole legs with thighs and drumsticks attached as opposed to using a whole chicken, because I find it easier to serve and I love dark meat, but you can make this with a whole chicken, thighs, legs, breasts... whatever you prefer! The sodium is hard to calculate because half of the marinade gets tossed so keep that in mind.

Place the chicken in a large, resealable zip-top bag or container and pour in the marinade. Toss the chicken inside the bag to cover evenly with the marinade and refrigerate for 6-8 hours or as long as overnight.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place the chicken on a rack in a foil lined roasting pan. Create a loose tent over the chicken with foil.

Roast the chicken in the center of the oven 30 minutes; remove foil and continue to cook, basting occasionally until the internal temperature is 165°-170°F, about 45 minutes longer (Insert thermometer between the leg and the thigh).

Thank you so much for posting gluten-free options! When I cut out gluten I had to teach myself how to cook, and your blog has really helped me along! I appreciate it so much and can't wait to try this!

This looks very yummy! Just finished your swedish meatballs for breakfast. Your recipes are the best leftovers! Thank you for all the great ideas. My monthly menu is full of your recipes and we've (husband, 3 kids and I) love them all.

All your recipes look fantastic! I had a quick qn about the grated ginger - as someone who hates to clean her microplane, can I just throw coarsely cut up ginger into the blender (vs grating it first)?

Thanks for all these amazing recipes and providing WW points for them.

I too was wondering if the skin is on or off and if the points are included with or without. This looks absolutely wonderful and I cant wait to try it. Also, Id love to know how you did the carrots...feeds the eyes as well as the tummy :)

About the skin, unless I say skinless, the nutritional info is with the skin. Without would be less points.

Personally, if I am going to roast a chicken I am leaving the skin on. I trimmed all the excess fat off but left the skin and yes, I ate the skin. Completely up to you if you want to eat it, but I would roast it with the skin on.

Gina: I made this recipe the other night. I want to do a post on it w/photo. May I refer people to your blog for the recipe? I don't want to copy it to my blog, due to your copyright note on your blog. Can you email me let me know? Thanks!Gloria gloria(dot)vincent(at)yahoo(dot)com

Mine is marinating right now but the five spice I bought actually has licorice in it and it smells VERY licoricey(didnt read the bottle first:(). I was so excited and now I am scared that it will taste like black licorice!

Delicious! Making this now! Smells amazing! I've planned our whole month's menu from your blog! Question-- are this shaved carrots in the photo? Love the presentation, but how would you make those? Thanks!

Just tried this (no sugar added) with the roasted broccoli and some arugula with roasted pumpkinseeds and my boyfriend said: "I think this is the most delicious meal you've ever made" and I can only agree (I was so happy to Findus 5 spice in sweden :) ) Thank you for wonderful recepies!

Soooooooooooooooooo yummy. I emailed the recipe to my husband yesterday while i was at work and he had it ready when i got home and it was so tasty!!!! We had it with some rice pilaf and a salad. I couldnt find whole legs so he just made it with drumsticks. perfect perfect perfect. no left overs in our house!!

This is mmmmmmarvelous! My husband does NOT have an adventurous palate (he's a meat and potatoes guy--loved your Salisbury Steak!) and I thought five-spice might be a little outside of his comfort zone, but he went back for seconds! Served it with your roasted broccoli with smashed garlic and some brown rice--a very successful dinner!

And I have to add that we had the leftovers tonight, served cold (I love cold chicken). It's wonderful; I'm envisioning warmer weather and a picnic basket with a container of this chicken nestled under a cold pack. Yum!

I made this last night with chicken breasts because I didn't have anything else and it turned out too strong tasting for our liking. Do you think if I used it with the suggested chicken pieces it would taste different?

I used an old turkey basting trick of my moms on this and it was great. I poured just a bit of orange juice into the bag I had used to marinate the chicken. Shook it all up and then used that as my basting liquid. So, so delicious. I will make this many times. Thanks!

I made this with a couple of adjustments. and it was fantastic! I added a little vinegar, a 1/4 tsp sesame oil and oyster sauce. I also used boneless chicken thighs and threw them all on the George Foreman. Loved it!

Hey Gina, I'm fairly new to the cookie game. I moved out a year ago so never really had to before! I've found your recipes super helpful and my whole family is impressed with the cookie skills I apparently had hidden.

My question is, since my kitchen isn't as stocked - is there any way else to cook this besides roasting? I was thinking of making it with chicken thighs... Do you think I could put it in a slow cooker and the flavor would come out ok?